How to Convert a Folder of Images to JPEG in Photoshop

If you have a folder full of digital images in various formats, and you want to convert them into the JPG or JPEG format, it is very easy to do as a batch process in Adobe Photoshop:

  1. Open Photoshop & go to File > Scripts > Image Processor.
  2. Click the Select Folder button to choose the folder of images that you want to convert. You can also optionally include all sub-folders in the conversion by clicking the associated checkbox.
  3. Choose to save the converted images in the same location as the original images, or choose a different folder.
  4. Select the checkbox to Save as JPEG, and choose a quality factor. The JPEG quality factor in Photoshop can be an integer from 0 to 12, with 12 being the highest quality. A value of 9 is usually a sufficient balance between file size and quality.
  5. Click Run and your images will be saved as a JPEG in the location you specified! The original images will not be overwritten.
  6. Tested with Adobe Photoshop CS6

Fade In & Fade Out an Animated .GIF in Photoshop

In my previous post on how to make an animated GIF in Photoshop, a common question in the comments was how can you add the transition effect of fading from one image into the next?

Original:

GIF_step

With a Fade Effect:

GIF_fade

  1. Set up your animation frames in the Timeline palette (known as the Animation palette in versions prior to CS6). See my earlier post for instructions.
  2. Select the animation frame that you want to start the fade effect.
    GIF_fade_ex_1
    In the Timeline palette menu (found under this button at the top right corner of the palette: PsPaletteMenu), click Tween…
  3. In the box that pops up, make sure “Tween With: Next Frame” is chosen, so that the frame you selected will fade into the following frame. Under “Frames to Add” pick the number of new frames you want to add in between the current frame and the next frame. A larger number will make a smoother transition, but will result in a bigger file size. Make sure “All Layers” is chosen, and at least “Opacity” is checked. Click OK
    GIF_fade_ex_2
    New frames will be added in between the frame you selected and the following frame. The opacity of each layer is gradually transitioned from 100% to 0% and 0% to 100% respectively. This provides a good start, but one problem with this is that you can see the underlying transparency in the newly added frames, which will artificially brighten the image since there is no background layer. This is not what we want. Instead, we want the initial frame to have an opacity of 100% over the course of the tween, as the following frame gradually fades in. This can be manually edited for each frame in the Layer palette, but let’s avoid doing so:
  4. In the Timeline palette menu, uncheck New Layers Visible in All Frames
  5. Click on your original initial frame to select it. Shift+Click the last of the newly added in between frames. This will select all of the in between frames, while still leaving the initial frame as the “main” selected frame, which is important for the next step.
    GIF_fade_ex_3
  6. In the Layer palette, right click on the layer corresponding to the image in the initial frame (it should have 100% opacity). Click Duplicate Layer and then OK. This will copy your initial frame image to each of the in between frames at 100% opacity, which will make it appear that the next frame is fading in.
    GIF_fade_ex_4
  7. Change the timing of each frame if needed, click File > Save for Web & Devices, make sure the file format is set to GIF, and save the image!

You can repeat this for each set of two adjacent frames that you want to fade in or fade out of each other. In the Tween dialog box, there are a number of other options which can be used to add effects such as position changes, which can be experimented with.

Tested with Adobe Photoshop CS6, but should also work in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS5

How to Resize an Image in Photoshop CS5 & CS6

Let’s say you have an image which you want to change the size of. In most cases, you want to make the image smaller, but resizing an image to be larger can also be done. In Photoshop, the steps are very easy:

  1. Open the image (File > Open…)
  2. Click Image > Image Size…
  3. In the section called “Pixel Dimensions,” enter a new value for Width or Height. The drop down boxes allow to you to specify if the values will be in Pixels or Percent. So, for example, if you want to resize the image by half, pick “Percent” and type in “50” for Width & Height.
  4. There will be a checkbox near the bottom called “Constrain Proportions.” This will lock with width and height to maintain the same ratio as the original image. Generally you want this checked so that your image will not distort or appear “stretched.” If unchecked, you can change width & height independently to any value.

That’s it! Now you can re-save the image. The method described above works in previous versions of Photoshop too, such as CS5 and earlier.

How to Add a Double Outline Style Around Text in Photoshop

The easiest way to add a single outline to a text layer in Adobe Photoshop is by applying a Stroke to the text in the Layer Style options. But since only one stroke per layer is allowed, how can you add a double outline, or a double stroke? It turns out you can get nearly the same effect by clever use of the Outer Glow style, in addition to the Stroke style. To add a double outline to a text layer, do the following:

  1. Create your initial text layer. I used 48pt Arial for my example.
  2. Create the first outline. Go to Layer > Layer Style > Stroke. Select your desired size and color. Make sure the Position is Outside, Blend Mode is Normal, and Opacity is 100%.

  3. Now add the Outer Glow effect. Click Outer Glow in the Styles list in the Layer Style window. Set the Blend Mode to Normal and Opacity to 100%. Select the color you want for the second outline.
  4. Adjust the Size to any desired number, but make sure it is larger than your previous Stroke size.
  5. Reduce the Range setting to a low value, somewhere between 1%-5%. A lower value will make the second outline appear more crisp, while a higher value will blur the outer edges slightly.

When the proper settings are adjusted, the Outer Glow acts as a second stroke. You now have a double outline around your text!

Convert a Video File into an Animated .GIF with Photoshop

It is popular nowadays to create short animated GIFs out of video or movie clips for easy viewing in forums and blogs. With some of the animation features in recent versions of Adobe Photoshop, it is quite easy to create these yourself!

  1. Open up your video file in Photoshop (File > Open). Photoshop can read in a number of different video formats (MOV, AVI, MPG, MPEG, MP4, M4V). If your video file is not one of these, you will need to convert it using a different program.
  2. Open the Animation palette (Window > Animation). You should see a timeline of your video in the palette.
  3. Set the start and end points of the clip you want to convert. Drag the blue handles above the timeline (shown circled in red in the image below) to select the duration of your clip. In the Animation palette menu (found at the top right corner of the palette), click Trim Document Duration to Work Area. If you want to convert the entire video into an animated GIF, then this step is not needed.
    Animation Timeline View
  4. Back in the Animation palette menu, click Flatten Frames Into Layers. A layer will be created for each frame of the video. You then need to delete the original video layer. In the Layers palette, right click on the original layer (which has a video clip icon in its thumbnail, and is probably called “Layer 1”), and click Delete Layer.
  5. Next, click Make Frames From Layers in the Animation palette menu.
  6. Finally, go to File > Save for Web & Devices. Make sure the format is set to GIF. On the bottom right corner of the window there is a drop down for Looping Options, which allows you to make the GIF loop once, forever, or a specific number of times. Click Save and you are done!

Your have successfully converted a video into an animated GIF! This has been tested in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS5.